The United States has slashed its military and civilian aid to Tunisia. A desperately needed $1.9bn International Monetary Fund loan continues to be delayed with the possibility of a US veto.
And an almost $500m grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a US aid agency, is unlikely to proceed.
The main reason, according to analysts: Tunisia’s increasingly authoritarian drift under President Kais Saied, which is contributing to the North African country’s increased international isolation.
Cash-strapped Tunisia is losing funding at a time when it needs friends to help pull it up from an entrenched economic nosedive.
The reduction in US funding in particular, from $88.9m in 2021 to $55.2m in 2022 and further cuts expected this year, is a big blow to Tunisia
a sign of the shifting winds in international perceptions of the country and Saied’s own increasingly precarious position.